A year ago on August 5, 2024, former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted in a nationwide student uprising in Bangladesh and subsequently fled to India. However, it was clear that was a US and Islamist-sponsored movement against her administration, akin to the colour revolutions of the post-soviet era – reaching to the Arab spring. According to a controversial UN report, 1,400 people were shot dead by the country's security forces during the protests. At the same time, hundreds of police were allegedly killed by the protesters during the movement in July-August 2024.
One year of a Nobel-laureate-led interim regime
Three days after Hasina flew to India, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus took power in Bangladesh on 8 August 2024. Many hoped that Yunus would lead the country towards something better than it had been. A year later, it is clear that those hopes have been dashed. No democratic steps have been taken. The country is in a situation that most closely resembles a civil war. Particularly worrying is that the illegitimate and unelected interim administration under Yunus, which is supported by the military and Islamist factions, is oppressing secular progressive groups and pro-liberation forces labelling them “criminals”, while known militant and convicted terrorists are treated as “innocent” and released.
Freedom of expression under severe threat
It has been a wonder of today, how a Nobel laureate for peace, Muhammad Yunus, has adopted an authoritarian leadership. Freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly are all restricted under the Yunus regime. According to Reporters Without Borders, the situation for journalists and journalism has deteriorated sharply this year. Violent attacks on journalists are on the rise. Journalists are being beaten with batons, hammers, and knives. Newsrooms are being stormed by angry people demanding that the newspapers remove articles they disapprove of.
People loyal to Islamist groups have forcefully occupied and took control over theownership as well as management of many media houses in the country. Lately, the Islamist parties backed by the government occupied a national Bengali language newspaper the Daily Janakantha office on August 2 this year.
The interim government has refused to accredit working journalists and has stopped granting accreditation to foreign journalists. And some journalists pay a high price for journalism. Khandaker Shah Alam, a reporter was murdered in June by a man involved in a corruption scandal that Alam had exposed.
Bangladeshi media does not report critically on either Yunuss regime or the army. People in Bangladesh are afraid to criticize the state's “power elite”. Questioning the shortcomings of the army or criticizing religious groups can cost the critics their lives. News media had to remove several reports following pressure from the government.
State of womens rights
During the Yunus-led interim regime, Bangladesh has witnessed a significant decline in women's rights. For example, the government is turning a blind eye to Islamists who are stopping women's football tournaments and violently suppressing anti-regime demonstrations.
Women are being assaulted on the roads, if the militants do not like their outfits. Many female teachers were assaulted, and many were removed from leading positions at different offices and institutions.
Killing by the Army and other forces
On July 16, 2025, at least five people were killed and many others including women and children injured when the military and police officers reportedly opened fire on protesters in Gopalganj, a district in the southwestern part of the country.
The army, however, remained silent mysteriously, when the so called mob, mainly the leaders and activists of the July-August movement of 2024 are continuing lynching, vandalism, extortion all over the country for the last one year.
Secular progressive culture under attack
In the past year, the country has experienced widespread destruction of over 1,400 sculptures, academies, museums, and libraries. The destruction includes statues of the father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bengali Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, pioneer and artist Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin, as well as the pioneering feminist writer Begum Rokeya, and the country's heroes from the 1971 liberation war. Lalon festival, a cultural event to manifest the secular and baul spirit of philosopher Lalon Faqir, was forcefully postponed following the demand from the Islamist fanatics.
Miscreants attacked the historic Mujibnagar Memorial Complex in Meherpur district in August 2024. They destroyed 600 sculptures featuring the legacy of the Liberation War of Bangladesh inside the complex.
The historic Mujibnagar is a very important part of our glorious history of independence in 1971. Previously known as Boidyanathtola, this is the place where on 17 April 1971 the provisional government of independent Bangladesh sworn in.
Agitated mob loyal to the pro-Yunus NCP demolished the residence of Bangladeshs founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, housing the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum in Dhaka on 5 February 2025. Neither the government nor the Army did take any step to protect the museum.
Judiciary vs. mockery
Time is running out, and extremist forces in Bangladesh are poised to seize power or threaten to seize power under the patronisation of the present government and its allies.
Hundreds of people including former justices, politicians, cultural activists, educationists, physicians were charged with false murder cases. Some examples include former minister and late politician Matia Chowdhury, former Chief Justice of the country, ABM Khairul Haque, former Mayor Salina Hayat Ivy, Dr. Samanta Lal Sen, Secular and human rights movement leader Shahriar Kabir, cultural activist and politician Asaduzzaman Noor were among others facing the false murder case. Lately police arrested artist and secular progressive activist Kamal Pasha Chowdhury on August 3.
The police arrested most of them on charges of various false murder cases and even they came under attack in police custody when the appeared before the court for hearing.
A renowned economist, also a teacher of the Dhaka University Abul Barkat, was arrested in a corruption case last month. He has long been an outspoken advocate for the rights and vulnerabilities of Bangladesh's minorities, particularly the Hindu community. Barkat, president of the country's Economic Council, and researcher, has a reputed record in conducting research on the financing of Islamist terrorism in Bangladesh.
Violation of Human Rights
The interim government has used arbitrary detention to target perceived political opponents and has yet to take measures to protect human rights.
It sounds the Yunus-led government has dual problem in this regard. One is its lack of competence and other one is the absence of commitment. Instead of uniting, the administration is dividing the nation.
Last month, the Human Rights Watch stated, the government is facing enormous challenges including an alarming surge in mob violence, political violence, and harassment of journalists by political parties and other non-state groups, such as religious hardliners hostile to womens rights and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.
In such an alarming context the authorities freed many convicted criminals and militants including the convict of the murder of Science writer and bloggar Avijit Roy.
Corruption vs. propaganda
The government, which assured to uproot corruption is found in various irregularities and corrupt deals in the last one year.
An advisor, Asif Mohammad Sajib Bhuyan, who became controversial at the very beginning for travelling by helicopter to a distance of only 17 kilometres, was found in corruption and crimes but the government did not take any measures against him.
His private secretary is facing charges for fund misappropriation. The advisor also arranged trade licence under his ministry for his father, also a government employee violating service rules. His father is also allegedly involved in murder and grabbing land of minority people in his locality.
The same advisor in June this year was found to travel with firearm's magazine containing bullet illegally. He was caught at Dhaka International Airport on his way to abroad but the government did not take any measure against him.
Muhammad Yunus himself took a tax exemption of at least 66 million US dollars, tax exemption for his Grameen Bank, taking a license for his newly founded manpower export company, permission for his private university, and signing an agreement with Starlink. He also withdrew all the cases against him without following proper legal procedure. He was also accused of nepotism for appointing his nephew as the deputy press secretary to the Chief Advisor.
Another adviser Mahfuz Alam is also allegedly involved in money laundering.
On the other hand, the chief advisers press secretary, Shafiqul Alam is making huge volumes of propaganda materials. It aims at misleading reality, misguiding people and hiding truths. Many government portfolio holders and individuals or gangs are accused of corruption and extortion due to their loyalty to the administration, particularly those in the newly formed pro-Yunus political space known as the National Citizen Party (NCP). They even misappropriated millions of BDT (Bangladeshi Taka) collected for flood victims last year. Many have recently been caught by the police for extorsion.Earlier, the leaders of the unregistered party NCP released some of their party men, who were arrested for extortion, from a police station in the capital .
Undisclosed deal with the US
When the Yunus-led interim regime has no mandate to sign any deal, the government is on the move to sign an undisclosed business deal with US. Of course, there are undisclosed security deals in the world. But an undisclosed business deal draws much confusion, misunderstandings, concerns, and fears. Thus, this regime is undermining democratic norms and values. As it gives a signal that the interim regime is playing its role as a cute puppet to the West. The US military is already on a joint programmes with the Bangladesh Army. All these facts are affecting Bangladeshs bilateral or multilateral relations with other international partners, notably India, China, Russia, Myanmar, and others.
Minority communities in danger
The minorities have experienced around 2,500 violent incidents, including murder, sexual harassment, vandalism, and robbery. In the capital, Dhaka, a Hindu temple was vandalised by the authorities to meet the demands of the Islamists. Against this backdrop, the interim regime is stepping forward to exclude basic pillars of secularism, socialism, nationalism, and democracy from the constitution. A section of foreign citizens including US citizen Ali Riaz enjoy a dominant role over such steps.
At least a dozen homes belonging to the members of the Hindu community were damaged by a mob during the last week of July 2025 in the Rangpur district, situated in northwestern Bangladesh.
Change names as move to undermine secular tradition
Bangladesh authorities have taken a drastic move to change the names of significant institutions to the names sounding Muslim to fulfil the demand of Islamist hardliners. This year authorities at Khulna University have issued directives to rename all student dormitories and other establishments that were previously named after Hindu-sounding freedom fighters, scholars, Sufi saints, and members of Sheikh Mujibur Rahmans family. The move, seen as part of a broader initiative to remove such memorializations, has sparked significant debate in academic and political circles.
Several establishments that previously bore the names of prominent Hindu scholars and intellectuals have also undergone changes. The Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy Central Laboratory, Dr Jyotirmoy Guhathakurta Residential Bhaban, Dr Sukharanjan Samaddar Residential Bhaban, and Dr Gobinda Chandra Deb Residential Bhaban have been renamed with more general designations such as Khulna University Central Laboratory, Professors Quarter, Associate Professors Quarter, and Assistant Professors Quarter, respectively. Similarly, Jibanananda Das Academic Bhaban has been renamed Academic Bhaban 3, Acharya Jagadish Chandra Basu Academic Bhaban is now Academic Bhaban 2, and Satyendranath Basu Academic Bhaban is called Academic Bhaban 1. The Lalan Sai Meeting Room has also been renamed TMC Bhaban.
The suffering of the people
People are hungry, jobless, threatened, unsafe and insecure in terms of economic, social, political and survival aspects as a whole. Many industries have been forced to stop production permanently or temporarily.
According to one of the countrys foremost business profiles, AK Azad, Bangladesh is facing the worst difficulty in exports in four decades or so.
Former Chief Economist Biru Paksha Paul at the central bank of Bangladesh and even the Asian Development Bank made observations featuring the difficult state of the countrys economy
In fine, I would like to state that it is high time for Muhammad Yunus to step down and open the way for a new interim administration for maximum three or four months for holding a fair, participatory and meaningful inclusive election. It has by now been proven in one year that Yunus has his own agenda to supersede possible election aiming at staying in power as long as he can without peoples mandadte.
Nobel laureate Muhammad simply hinders democratic transition and chooses to be an authoritarian oppressor. Does it not sound ultra-fascism?
(Note: The writer is a poet and playwright and Editor-in-Chief, upplittmagasin.se, more about Anisurs works: anisur.net)